The present invention relates to a method for transmitting data over communication networks.
The selective transmission of data or the sending of e-mails to specific recipients over the Internet has become increasingly more significant in recent years. The same applies analogously to the sending of text messages, so-called Short Messages (SMS), over existing GSM mobile radio networks.
For the next generation mobile radio systems, so-called UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System) networks, similar messaging systems are also provided with, in particular, a multimedia-enabled variant of a mobile messaging service, the so-called MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service). The aim is to extend the advantages of e-mailing, which is already well known on the Internet, to mobile applications.
Predominantly two network elements are active when an electronic mail (e-mail) is sent within an IP (Internet Protocol) network (IP: Internet Protocol) or between IP networks. The electronic mail is first composed in the (UA: User Agent) (i.e., the text is written, files may be attached, and addressing is carried out. The electronic mail is then sent from the UA to a known MTA (MTA: Message Transfer Agent). It is transported by various other MTA's through the network to the recipient's e-mail system.
A sender wishing to send the same electronic mail to several recipients can set up a distribution list containing all the recipients' addresses and, upon sending the electronic mail, use the relevant distribution list as the recipient's address for addressing. When the electronic mail has been delivered to the network element administering the distribution list, a separate electronic mail is produced there for each individual member of this distribution list and this mail is then individually forwarded.
Distribution lists can be set up on different network elements, that is to say locally in the UA, at the sender's MTA, or somewhere on a network server, as what is called a reflector. Several copies of an electronic mail addressed to a distribution list can be generated either already in the sender's UA, at the sender's MTA, or not until the server administering the reflector has been reached, and forwarded as individual mails.
An electronic mail consists of a header and a body. The header contains data that is needed by the MTAs for transporting the electronic mail, while the body contains the actual message. The same principle applies to the structure of a multimedia message. Provision has also been made in the MMS for using some RFC #822 (Request for Comments #822) standard header fields alongside other MMS-specific headers.
A disadvantage of the previously known methods for transmitting data or electronic mail to a selection of addressees in a distribution list is that all the addresses comprising the selection have to be entered separately. Thus, the distribution list is no longer useable as of the moment a small number of addressees in the distribution list are to be excluded from receiving a mail.